Giannina Braschi: Quotes about fear

“This is a vicious circle. This is the fishmarket. This is working for survival. This is survival of the fastest. This is the Darwinist capital of the capitalist world. A head afraid is a head haunted. A head haunted is a head hunted. Run for your life. Run from the guillotine to a head hunter who saves your head and raises your salary—so you’ll be caught in the red of the fishmarket buying gadgets to distract your fragile imagination that is cut in the red market of blood—running and escaping—running again—changing your resume to update the fear you feel of being unemployed tomorrow—in the streets—and from there to welfare—and from there to begging.”

Giannina Braschi book United States of Banana

United States of Banana (2011)

Life , World , Fear , Feeling

“I fear freedom. I, above all, fear the freedom that is above all feardom.”

Giannina Braschi book United States of Banana

United States of Banana (2011)

Fear , Freedom

“It’s the end of the world. I was excited by the whole situation. Well, if everybody is going to die, die hard, shit, but what do I know? Is this an atomic bomb--the end of the world--the end of the millennium? No more fear of being fired--for typos or tardiness--digressions or recessions--and what a way of being fired--bursting into flames--without two weeks notice--and without six months of unemployment--and without sick leave, vacation, or comp time--without a word of what was to come--on a glorious morning--when nature ran indifferent to the course of man--there came a point when that sunny sky turned into a hellhole of a night—with papers, computers, windows, bricks, bodies falling, and people running and screaming…”

Giannina Braschi book United States of Banana

United States of Banana (2011)

Time , Night , Indifference , People

“Imagine, ever since I was a little girl in Puerto Rico, I heard, oh, we don’t want to be like Haiti, we don’t want to be like Cuba. The fear was with being poor like Haiti and being poor like Cuba, and that’s why Puerto Rico never became free because it was afraid of being poor…”

Giannina Braschi

On Puerto Rico in “A Graphic Revolution Talking Poetry & Politics with Giannina Braschi” https://www.academia.edu/36916781/A_Graphic_Revolution_Talking_Poetry_and_Politics_with_Giannina_Braschi in Chiricú Journal (2018)

Girl , Fear , Imagination

“Tragedy is all about losing. And humor is all about gaining perspective. Humour returns our gladness. And with gladness comes generosity. Humor returns us to the light and makes us light—it kills grudges, buries bodies–buries revenge—buries blame and guilt—fear and dread. Laughter, like hiccups and sneezes and farts and burps, relieves us of severity.”

Giannina Braschi

On the healing effects of humor in “52 WEEKS / 52 INTERVIEWS: WEEK 34: GIANNINA BRASCHI” http://monkeybicycle.net/52-weeks-52-interviews-week-34-giannina-braschi/ (Monkey Bicycle)

Light , Revenge , Fear , Making love